Confederate Cipher Disk

For those interested in these ciphers here is a photo of a replica Confederate States Cipher Disk. The original disk was less than three inches across and could be carried in a shirt pocket. It consisted of two disks, one smaller than the other with the alphabet going around the outside of each circle. The disks were made of brass and the smaller disk had three letters, CSA, in the center. This of course stood for the Confederate States of America. Just below the CSA were two more letters, S.S. It is not known for certain what the S.S. stood for however it is thought to have been for either “Secret Service” or “Signal Service”.

There are only five original Confederate Cipher Disks known to exist. Two of these are in private collections, one is in the Smithsonian Institute and the other two are in the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, VA.

Finding one of these things while metal detecting would really get your heart going!